The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-02-17
A TALK ABOUT BICYCLING.
DIR. Blackham Before the Academy
of Science.
To the Editor of THE HERALD.

To the Editor of THE HERALD.
1t is estimated that Great Britain has
$50, 600 cyclers-America, $50 GOO, The
use Of the wheel for business and plea
sure is becoming more extensiyes and
as a reason I commend to your readers
the following. Yours,
h. PEMBROKE.
Or. George E. Blackham, of Dunkirk,
spoke before, the Academy of Science, on
Monday evening, on "The Bicycle and
Tricycle. as Factors in onr Civilization. :"
Dr.. Blackham is an enthusiastic bicy-
cllst. He opened his address With the
statement that the amusements of peo-
pie are at once al index of their rise and
tau. He continued with a review of the
history OF the bicycle and the improve
ments which have gradually been added
70 the machine, changing it from the
heavy, cumbersome one as first used to
the light and rapid ones now in general
use. He described the gradual intro
duction of the wheel into this country,
and then spoke of the physical effects of
cycling. He said:
bicycles afford inoomparably the
best and most agreeable form of exer-
else yet deYiSed-better than gymnasia,
health lifts, etc., in that they take the
cycler out of doors into the pure. fresh
air and sunshine; better than walking.
rowing, or horseback riding, in thatthey
exercise more muscles more evenly and
gently. With their hollow. backbone
forks and felloes and delicate wire spokes
their Weights reduced to a minimum
without sacrifice of strength; with their
exquisite anti-friction bearings, friction
is almost abol s1ed, aud with their
spider wheels, ru bber tires. and spring
supported saddles the jar of riding over
the inequalities of The roadway is neu-
trallzed, and he happy possessor of
good, modern bicycle may speed along
over fair road at his ease, making
about three times the speed of walking
with less than half the exertion. The
idea that the muscles of the legs only
are developed by cycling is very COM
mon and exceedingly erroneous one. In
point of fact, nearly every muscle in the
body is brought into gentle use. The
lungs draw in deeper inspirations of
pure air; the heart beats fuller, quicker,
and more freely, and sends the blood
more rapidly to be erated and thence
onward to the remotest capillaries, re-
newlng and recreating every nerve and
muscle cell; the tired brain is relieved
of It's weary load of surplus blood, and
the happy cycIer returns from his run of
i've, ten, or twenty miles refreshed and
rested, with an appetite and digestion
like wood-chopper, and capability
for sweet and restful sleep that goes only
with clear conscience and a healthy
body. ./i4-
'''fhe Pharmacop9ia contains no
tonic, blood purifier, and hypnotic at all
comparable for agreeableness a eff
cheney to the combination of steel and
rubber in a good bicycle l know
whereof l speak, for | rode my wheel
out of the valley of the shadow OF cere-
bral exhaustion and insomnia into ex-
cellent health.
The tricycle., though neither so grace
full nor swift as the bicycle, is equally
excellent in fits effects upon the ply
slcaf health, and IS, l am satisfied, the |
form of exercise for delicate women, be- |
whom the jar of walking is unen6urabls |
torture. know of cases of spinal irri-
tation, so.called, that could not bear |
even short walks and SO failed of needed |
exercise, that improved so much through |
riding tricycle. that their health is now |
perfect, ana they have made long tri- |
cycle runs-hfty miles in single day in |
one caSe-and are able to walk five or
ten miles al time without undue ia
tlgue. OF course, like all other human
devices, the wheel is capable of abuse.
Foolish boys, who. will persist in riding
wheels too large for them, may suffer
strains in consequence. Young enthu-
slssts who indulge in racing-the bane
of athletics, that lntemperance of exer-
cise-may, and often do, suffer heart
strain in reward for their foolishness;
but the number thus injured is utterly
in comparison to those who
are benefited. In strictly moral sense,
the wheel has good influence. 1t in
sists upon sobrietv upon the part of the
rider; its races, foolish as they are, are
1T least free from the curse Of the book
maker and the BOOKSELLER.
i"Here In Rochester, where wheelmen
have always been freely given the rights
they have had TO struggle for in many
places where many of the most grace
ful and skillful riders in the country are
grouped in the Rochester and Genesee
Bicycle Clubs, where Messrs. Kaufman
and Barber have made Breitman' S lron1-
cal dream of one wheeled velociDede
pracucal reallCy-nere, where tue WueeI
has long been IN use and its excellences
are we'll known, there is but little need
Of an advocate of cycling. Yet l may
nope to have shown to some who may
not have given the matter much
thought, that the bicycle and tricycle.
ire of use for buSin SIS and for pleasure,
or health and for morals in social and
political life, and thus are factors, and
factors. ID our civilization"
Rochester Herald.